Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) Receives $298.69 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $311.25.

Several equities analysts have commented on MPC shares. Zacks Research downgraded Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $303.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $343.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In related news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of Marathon Petroleum stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total value of $1,703,243.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 16,900 shares in the company, valued at $4,543,058. The trade was a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MPC. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Navalign LLC acquired a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Marathon Petroleum by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC now owns 200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 76.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Marathon Petroleum Stock Performance

Marathon Petroleum stock opened at $297.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.52. Marathon Petroleum has a 1-year low of $158.00 and a 1-year high of $326.92. The company’s 50-day moving average is $279.39 and its 200 day moving average is $242.28.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The oil and gas company reported $17.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.27 by $3.46. The business had revenue of $51.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.87 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 31.96% and a net margin of 5.48%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.96 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum will post 46.66 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.75%.

About Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) is a U.S.-based downstream energy company engaged principally in the refining, marketing, supply and transportation of petroleum products. The company was formed through a spin-off from Marathon Oil in 2011 and operates an integrated system of refining and logistics assets that support the production and distribution of transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products.

Marathon Petroleum’s operations include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and other specialty products, as well as managing the distribution and storage infrastructure needed to move those products to market.